melmar02

The two man deck crew was back out this morning using their vibration machine on the areas they dug up yesterday. They finished quickly and said they were going to do a quick repair from the rain on another project in the neighborhood. While they were gone, a truck of sand showed up and unloaded on the sidewalk. This will be the top of the paver base. It started raining as the dump truck was unloading. The deck crew came back about an hour later, and it was still raining so they put up the plastic construction fence and left. Apparently the rest of their guys didn't get the message that work was done for the day because another truck arrived early this afternoon with all the pavers for the deck. They got out and walked around for a bit, scratching their heads trying to figure out where to put 2 pallets of stone. They decided to put it on either side of the giant mound of sand. It took almost 3 hours for them to unload it all...piece by piece...in the rain. ? They were wrapping up just after 3pm which is when the elementary school that's a couple blocks away dismisses for the day. Since we're on one of the main roads in our neighborhood, the kids who walk home had to get creative getting past our house. Fortunately, there weren't a lot of walkers today because of the rain, but I saw a couple groups of kids (one with a bike) scale the 3 foot high mound we have blocking the path. The guys added the cones just before they left, and I'm not sure what other options the kids really had. With two big construction trucks taking up one side of the road, there was just enough room on the other side of the busy street for the cars leaving the school. Over the hill was probably their best option at the time. It would have been better if the guys would have stacked the stone on the sidewalk. Then the kids could have at least been able to walk on that little strip of grass. There's only a 30% chance of rain in the forecast, so hopefully it's relatively cleaned up by the time the kids get out of school tomorrow.

Today is the first rain break we've had since Sunday. We measured 5.5" of water in the bottom of the spa yesterday afternoon (official total is closer to 2.5"). The deck crew came back out at 3:30 this afternoon to dig new trenches in the base they laid last week for the gutter and deck drain pipes. I hope this means the deck pavers will be laid tomorrow, but it is supposed to start raining again tonight and go through at least noon tomorrow. I plan on painting the bright white pvc that is exposed between where the gutter downspout ends and the deck. The pvc for our auto fill is also going to get a coat as it is even more noticeable against our dark brick. Here's one of the drains. I'm sure the caps will get a coat of paint too. Unless they make a beige-ish color pvc? I really hope this is all finished before everyone starts sailing next month. We're currently 3 weeks behind schedule, and I'm ready for a real cruise blog!

Yesterday afternoon, as the crew was loading up their equipment to leave, I saw the PM in the backyard evaluating the firepit. I excitedly stepped outside and asked what he thought. He climbed up on the edge of the spa and declared, "it's not good enough." I got closer and realized what he was talking about. They cut the center hole as a circle, but the outside edge is still elongated and misshapen. He came back by early this morning and took measurements and pictures to send to the subcontractor. So close! On a high note, the level, raised ground makes a huge impact. Visually, it's easier to imagine how the finished project will appear. It was also nice to be able to take the dogs out without leaping over the chasms.

That a nice diving itinerary. ?

I'm not sure about the settling; they have been using this vibrating machine to pack down the sand and gravel. I'm hoping that will take care of it, and we won't have to wait since the PM told us it would only take 3-4 days to complete the deck. He may have been talking about working days though. Good news there too! I took the kids bowling (this is the first week of our summer break), and when we got home, the crew had grown by 3. I spy a circle! Right now, they are shoring up the unsupported cinder block under the grill. Since they're here, hopefully they'll take care of the door misalignment too. I'm supposed to write a great big check today, so I'm glad at least the firepit has been taken care of.

After several days of rain, more work is finally being done today. The project manager stopped by this morning and said he just wanted to check if anything had been done in the last week - he wanted to make sure what to be mad about when he called the stone guys this morning. Whatever he told them, it worked because a two man crew showed up about 9am with a bobcat to fill in the trenches between the patio and the pool. There was just enough room to get the bobcat through, and I was sure he was going to take out the new kitchen when he backed it out of the narrow space. Once they filled in the ditches, they spray painted a few lines, took a few measurements, unhooked their trailer and left. I wasn't worried I would never hear from them again though... they left the bobcat. About an hour has passed and they are back with pvc. They're building the drainage system that will run under the deck. There is a drain that connects to the bottom of the firepit, and I'm assuming they will also connect our existing gutter down spouts located where the deck will be installed. Maybe even our overflow drain that comes out of the skimmer on the left. We shall see. A truck of sand just showed up too. A layer of sand then crushed limestone make up the base for the pavers. The project manager said the base for the deck should only take a day. He can get it inspected tomorrow, and then, fingers crossed?, they lay the travertine on Saturday. It's supposed to rain for several days starting Sunday, and I would think they would want to get that base covered so there isn't any erosion. ?

We love the 2 BR Grands on Liberty! Here's my blog from September, 2019. Lot's of photos of the room.

Yesterday the stone guys came back out to tackle the firepit. They removed the two coping stones that connect to the spa and cut them so the shape is a bit more circular. The project manager came about that time and told them it wasn't good enough - the whole thing is the wrong shape. They discussed it for about 30 minutes, and the PM left. I guess he decided they needed a visual aid because he was back about an hour later with the burner that needs to fit inside the hole. Yep, still not a circle. While the PM was gone, they tackled finishing the back wall as the last water feature finally came in. Woohoo! The stone guys finished one of their projects! You can see we have quite a bit of water in the deep end from all the rain we've had. It's had water in it for months actually. Now that it's getting to mosquito season, DH tossed a couple of those mosquito dunks in there so we don't become a breeding ground. Right after the stone crew left, the lighting guys showed up. They confirmed all the fixtures the stone crew had installed were working. There are 10 of these little LED bar lights around the pool - one with each water feature, 5 under the coping of the spa and firepit, and the last two will illuminate the steps of the deck. The PM stopped by again this morning. He's not happy the firepit is still an issue, and he was surprised that the guys couldn't figure it out and the crew that was here is the good crew. I'm hopeful that it won't be another week or two...or 5... before they come back out, but they took all their equipment with them when they left. ?

The stone subcontractor finally came back out today (more than two weeks later) to install the grill. They knew it was in the garage, and the two guys carried it around the house and over the trenches to the patio. They set the grill down as soon as they could - I would have too seeing as it's a couple hundred pounds. ? They took measurements of the grill and started cutting the hole in the counter. I just noticed in the picture I took how precariously the grill is hanging off the edge of the patio. It's hard to see in the photo, but that trench is a lot steeper than it looks. Anyway, they had it mounted and added the doors to the existing opening in a little over an hour. Does something feel off to you? It did to me. So I took a closer look...and they cut the opening for the grill too far to the right. The doors don't line up with the appliance. Here's the left ...annnd here's the right. We've already been in contact with the Project Manager who is coming by in the morning to take a look. He said it will be done correctly, but, between the mistakes and delays, I can't say I'm impressed with their stone subcontractor. If anything I am getting nervous about how the deck will turn out since the same company completes that work as well. The time quote we received at the beginning of the project was 90-120 days. We passed 120 a couple days ago. At this rate, I'll be due for a Covid booster by the time it's all done.

Maybe take more of a sinister Bond villain approach where the chair opens up and the items are dropped directly into an incinerator.

Since I'm my own boss, I could totally make these for breakfast!

So glad it's healing properly!

Line cutters...in the WJ, at a bar, waiting for doors to open at a show, at the ice cream machine, getting on /off the elevators. I know it's not RC specific, but it seems quite a few people lose their manners on vacation.

It isn't damaged. It's the wrong shape. They built a "U" instead of a circle and cut the top stones as wide as the pool coping so it has a very angular outline instead of a more circular shape. Here's what it should be - the spa and fire pit should look like a very lopsided figure 8 according to all the drawings and build plans. Instead, we have one circle (the spa) with a horseshoe next to it.

Thanks. I think it looks pretty good too.? They worked on the front a bit more, added vent slits in the back, and added the top this morning. They aren't quite finished though. The right side of the grill opening didn't get filled in and a finishing skim coat of mortar. Also, they took out a cinder block plus a little for the vents which left a block in the second row unsupported, so they're going to have to shore that up as well. They'll cut the opening in the counter for the grill when they set it in place. They're also going to seal the heck out of it. It would be a shame for my strawberry daiquiri to get knocked over and stain the new counter. ? The PM stopped by this afternoon and, in addition to addressing all the little issues mentioned, said decking should start next week and the fire pit repair and back wall completion should happen at the same time. Decking will take about a week. They have to fill in the trenches and put in the sub deck material (one day) before an inspection (one to two days) and then to lay the stones (two days). Next up after that is plaster. The PM said that crew is running about 2 weeks behind right now due to the weather. Since our town doesn't require a pre-plaster inspection, he said he might be able to cheat that a little bit. I'm hoping we have water in the pool by May 7th, but that's probably pushing it. That's our last day of school (we homeschool, and I don't stick to the public school calendar). It would be nice to start our summer off with the pool ready to go. ?

The rain held off until overnight, so they were able to get quite a bit finished yesterday. After building the frame, the crew hand chipped the edges of each stone. We weren't expecting that was done by hand - I guess we just thought they magically came that way. I was wondering why they said this part of the project would take a day and half when the frame was complete before 10:30 yesterday morning. We really like the look of the finished product, and by 1pm when the crew broke for lunch, they had a nice pile of stone that was ready to go. I guess the guys didn't want me taking pictures of them all afternoon, because they started adding stone to the back of the counter first. ? By 5pm the back and most of the front was finished. It's supposed to start raining again about noon, but they should be able to finish the front and add the counter top by then.

They're here! They're here! DH and I took down our little fence for the dogs and marked the location of the grill and fridge this morning in hopes that a crew would show up. They arrived about 8, asked a couple questions, and said the kitchen would be completed in about a day and a half. The deck goes will be installed before the appliances are set into place, but it's going to look a lot different this afternoon! They have finished building the front already and are working on the back side. It will be built up with cinder blocks then covered in stone - same process as the wall and firepit.

That sounds encouraging, Joe!

Good news! They dropped off a truck with the stone for the kitchen. Depending on the weather, it's possible they will start that tomorrow.

Here we are, almost 3 weeks later, and I don't really have anything new to report. The PM stopped by Sunday morning, and the stone company is still telling him they'll be back out to fix the firepit and finish up our project "any day now". They still need to finish the back feature wall and build the kitchen in addition to the firepit repair. Gotta love construction timelines! I'm annoyed, but not too mad about it - the center water feature for the wall has been on backorder, and won't be in until next week sometime. It's also supposed to rain the rest of the week. So it's not like they would have been able to finish the work anyway. The PM however is really not happy. He wants to get the deck going, but the kitchen has to be completed first.

Thanks for coming back to finish! We're in a 2BR ATS in 750 days or so. I can't wait to read the rest of your blog!

I just got mine too... Take action today Browser View Dear Valued Crown & Anchor Society members, Royal Caribbean has deeply missed doing what we do best — delivering great vacations for our guests. Unfortunately, just yesterday, we had to cancel more cruises through June 2021, which marks 15 months since we have sailed from a U.S. homeport. But we haven’t been standing still. In recent months, Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines have shown the effectiveness of health protocols while sailing other parts of the world. The data speaks for itself — more than 400,000 healthy guests have sailed on cruise ships outside the U.S., all made possible by protocols developed over months of collaboration with top experts including our Healthy Sail Panel. This demonstrated success, along with the rollout of the vaccine in many countries, means cruising will be back this summer for vacationers departing from the U.K., Israel, Cyprus, Bermuda, The Bahamas and more homeports. We’re grateful for our international partners who have invited us back to their shores. The fact remains, however, that a U.S. return to cruising is essential to our economy, travel agent partners, the destinations we sail to, and the overall future vitality of this industry. The cruise community is a vital driver of our country’s travel economy — and our job market. In fact, the cruise industry supports nearly 500,000 U.S. jobs — and around 350,000 of these Americans continue to financially suffer due to the suspension of cruising. That’s why we’re calling on you, our valued Crown & Anchor Society members, to make your voices heard. If you’re ready to see cruising return, we urge you to call, email and tweet your Senators and U.S. Representatives in support of lifting the CDC’s Conditional Sail Order (CSO) and allowing healthy cruising to resume from the U.S. by the beginning of July 2021. Our friends at Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) have designed an Action Center that will make it easy for you to craft and send your message in just a couple clicks. If anyone understands the important role that these vacations play in our lives, it’s you. And we believe with your help, we can bring our ships back to U.S. homeports. We appreciate your unwavering support. Royal Caribbean International

It's combined with a land package, southbound on Radiance - I think the cruise embarks on the 10th.

October 2021 from Galveston February 2022 from Galveston June 2022 Alaska April 2023 on Allure from Galveston Right now, I think all but the October '21 will sail. We're considering going ahead and canceling that one, moving the deposit FCC to the Alaska cruise. We have a crazy good deal on the February '22 sailing and a ton of OBC too, so that's the one I'm really crossing my fingers for. There might be tears in our house if cancelations go into next year.

We took the bridge tour on Liberty, and this sounds like what they told us. Their contract is longer than 20 weeks (don't remember how long the actual contract lasts), but they follow this pattern getting 50% time off.